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Banking act gains supporters

A banking act enacted in 1933 regained attention at Monday night's Ridgway Borough Council meeting since council first adopted a resolution in support of the Glass-Steagall Act in June of 2011.Ridgway resident William Granche attended Monday's meeting to update the council on the Glass-Steagall Act, also known as "The Return to Prudent Banking Act."The Banking Act of 1933 was a law enacted June 16, 1933 to establish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC] in the United States and to impose banking reforms."I am here in regards to a resolution you wrote last year," Granche said. "I wanted to give you an update on the Glass-Steagall Act. Last year at about this time you wrote a resolution to [Congressman] Glenn Thompson [PA-5] asking him to reinstate the Glass-Steagall act. We are among the first people in Pennsylvania to do so. "What this act does is separates the commercial banks from investment houses; it prevents risky investments; it safeguards the depositors' money, their pensions are safer and money is meant to be lent to businesses and not investors."Granche noted that he has been attending other local meetings to speak on the Act."About two weeks ago I spoke to the [Elk County] Commissioners to do the same thing," Granche said, "and their response was that they will try to put together a meeting with all of the county commissioners that Glenn Thompson covers."We have more than doubled the number of congressmen who are on board with this-- I'm just telling you the snowball is getting bigger."In other business, Ridgway resident James Kriegel asked council for a timetable as to when the 3-story apartment building at 260 Depot St. will be demolished.The building caught fire Sunday night on Feb. 5. According to council member John Casolo Jr., Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal Greg Agosti is still investigating the origin of the fire."We have a very large burned-out shell of an apartment building on Depot Street," Kriegel said. "It's a dangerous situation."Pick up a copy of the Thursday, May 24, 2012 edition of The Ridgway Record for more.